This was a comprehensive hip hop, film and urban culture blog written entirely by an information junkie/graphomaniac Bostonian ex emcee/film student/record and video store manager/graf writer/streetballer called Dart Adams.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Dart Adams presents Aquaman Or No Aquaman?

As a 70’s baby, I grew up watching all of those damn Superfriends cartoons. Every Saturday I sat there in front of the TV bathing in the radiation emitted by those cathode ray tubes watching the most powerful heroes under the DC Comics banner. There was one hero in particular that stood out from the rest. His name was Aquaman.

Aquaman had the unfortunate power to communicate with sea creatures and he could swim really fast and breathe underwater. Considering that the Superfriends were often getting attacked by super powerful villains or trying to save Earth from alien invasions Aquaman’s powers were virtually useless except for saving people who were trapped at sea. It was usually up to Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman to get gully and save the Earth while Aquaman was in the drink talking to whales and squds and shit.

When it came time to assign missions, Aquaman was always assed out like the little kid at the playground who sucked at sports. He always went off on a ski doo and “patrolled the ocean”. Useless ass muthafucka! I bet the other Superfriends used to crack jokes about him constantly since he didn't even have any super strength or heightened fighting ability of any kind (think Rembrandt in "The Warriors"). In any event, in Hip Hop/Rap groups we refer to any member that can be identified as the weak link as that group’s Aquaman.

The usage of this term became widespread after the legendary 1998 Blaze emcee battle final round between VA crew Supafriendz (Skillz, Danja Mowf & Lonnie B.) member Lonnie B. and Stronghold (Poison Pen, C Rayz Walz, L.I.F.E. Long, Immortal Technique & Breez Evahflowin) representative Breez Evahflowin. Lonnie B. got at Breez but Breez won by delivering the legendary finishing line “You’re the weakest one out the crew/like muthafuckin’ Aquaman!”. It was officially a wrap after that.

Some of the most successful crews in Hip Hop have had Aquamen. Let’s touch on a few with this blog:

I personally consider the Wu Tang Clan to be one of the greatest if not the greatest (yes, I HAVE heard of the Juice Crew!) and most talented crews in Hip Hop history. Do they have a clear cut candidate for an Aquaman? Hell yes! As much as I’d hate to do it I’d identify Mr. Excitement himself, U God as Wu Tang Clan’s resident Aquaman.

The Fugees are yet another group with a clear cut nominee as Pras would be voted most likely to be riding a dolphin out of that crew. The Digable Planets’ C Knowledge AKA Doodlebug would be the most comfortable fighting Black Manta somewhere beneath the briny deep. For D-12, it’s clearly Bizarre that can be identified as the weakest link and so on.

Some crews simply don’t have a member that you can just point out as the weakest link. Try to pick out of Freestyle Fellowship, Hieroglyphics, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and so on. I thought about if any member of the legendary Juice Crew could be considered the Aquaman or Aquawoman of the crew and after a lengthy argument with my brother Buctayla it came down to either Biz Markie or MC Shan. In the end, we both agreed that Shan and Biz were legends in every sense of the word and that the Juice Crew had no clear cut Aquaman.

As far as Public Enemy is concerned, that is another matter entirely. Feel free to post up your own personal lists of groups with and without Aquamen in the comments section below or make up your own lists and post them on your own blogs if you have them. This is a communal game that my Hip Hop fanatic friends and I have been playing for the past 10 years now and it's time for it spread past the Boston/New England area.

Namor is super strong, can breathe and survive on land and can fly. Not only that but he is a cold blooded killer that doesn't care much for human life. The only time he comes to the surface is if Atlantis can end up being affected. Homie used to punch holes in the chests of Nazis and Axis soldiers during WW II. He's super gully.

Prince Namor would rip Aquaman in half and feed him to a school of sharks. That's why he's getting a movie and Aquaman ain't.

Vital Information About Dart

If you don't know who I am by now then Google my previous work from 2006 to the present day. I'm one of the people your favorite writers, journalists & bloggers ask for help or information. I'm also the dude wack writers & fake journalists fear more than Spell/GrammarCheck.